Crimson Bloom - Major Update is LIVE

The Crimson Bloom Update is now live for Hunter's Hand!

If you've been waiting to try the game, now's a good time to jump in.

What's new:

• The Martyr subclass - Built entirely around sacrifice. Spend HP to deal damage. Break yourself to break the run. High risk, devastating ceiling.

• 20 new cards - Including Sacrificial Icon and Grim Resolve, designed around the Martyr's playstyle but usable across classes.

• The Desert - A new biome previewed in this update, arriving in full at release. Arid, hostile, full of things that want you dead.

• UI improvements - Several QoL changes based on your feedback. The game should feel much cleaner and faster to navigate.

This update represents a new chapter for Hunter's Hand. The Martyr changes how you think about taking damage, every hit becomes a resource, every wound a choice. Combined with the Desert's hazards, runs will feel different in a way I couldn't fully test until I was actually playing it.

Thank you to everyone who's been following the game, leaving reviews, and sending feedback. You're the reason the demo is still getting updates.

Full patch notes:

Changes:

• AnimationComponent reworked — increased functionality and re-added to all relevant scenes; no longer shifts position when hovering a parent control node

• Tidied up UI across all scenes

• Run stats moved to bottom left and opacity increased — were getting hidden behind enemy cards

• Character select screen — updated visuals

• Main menu — now hides Continue and Abandon Run buttons if no previous run is saved; new still image background with custom motion shader; wind trails, fog, and rain VFX; Hunter's Hand logo replaces plain text title; all UI elements resized and rearranged for better visual hierarchy Steam post image

• Combat pop-ups now flip horizontal direction correctly when shown in the enemy scene

• Refactored combat pop-ups from 5 separate scripts into 1 reusable script; handles damage, block, bleed, poison, regen, guard break, status applied, and drain — can be reused between player and enemy

• Battle bottom bar lowered to show more of the battle scene; UI elements made smaller (mana now displayed as a small sphere); mana, HP, and armour visuals improved

• Player hand now lowers while disabled (end of turn) and raises again on the next turn

• StatusUI now smaller, and now grows and shrinks when activated in addition to flashing

• Battle background moved to its own reusable scene; eclipse filter also handles its own script

• Battle start pop-up animation updated

• Added SFX to player hurt and death animations

• Battle over panel removed from battle end flow — now emits directly to battle rewards (skips an unnecessary click); battle music stops and transitions to ambient biome music

• Battle rewards now auto-closes when the last reward is taken

• Card rewards now hides the reward list while a card tooltip is open, then restores it when the tooltip closes; reward tooltip visuals updated

• Map background moved to a canvas layer so it scrolls correctly with the map

• Map background images now transition between biomes; added visual gap between forest and desert biome

• Map generator upgraded to improve path connections and prune dead-end paths

• Added camera handle for guardian scroll lock and buffer in inspector; map now auto-ignores guardian camera lock in demo version; room type renamed from BOSS to GUARDIAN for clarity

• Event locations — fixed background position and UI placement; added VFX particles

• Added Martyr subclass with all cards and class trainer entry

• Added Quicksand Elemental enemy with animations

• Added new Desert biome background, eclipse variant, and map background images (dunes, bones, pyramids)

• Added new cards for all Desert biome enemies and guardians

• Battle now transitions to the Desert biome after defeating the Forest Guardian

• Demo version locked to 1 biome; full version uses 3

• Disabled analytics plugin — was significantly slowing down Godot boot time

• Added Godot Project Statistics plugin

• Adjusted death particles

Bugfixes:

• Fixed AnimationComponent moving out of position when hovering a parent control node (was incorrectly influencing container layout)

• Fixed buttons moving out of containers on certain scenes, blocking run progression

• Fixed Poison status not triggering damage on the correct turn (was triggering twice on one tick)

• Fixed end-of-round player handler triggering twice

• Fixed Bleed VFX not playing correctly

• Fixed player being able to continue a run after dying via the combat over panel

• Fixed debug Lose HP button not functioning

• Fixed broken player death animation (was referencing the wrong shader)

• Fixed map appearing behind battle VFX due to incorrect canvas layer

• Fixed inability to finish battle after Guardian defeated check was introduced

• Fixed camera clamp releasing after the first non-Guardian enemy was killed

• Fixed all Desert enemy DEF code — was incorrectly referencing Armour and Shielding instead of BlockEffect

Balancing:

• Warding Circle — removed colour lock from options (was locking black and white threat, the only two currently available; lock will return when additional Ancients are added)

Martyr card list:

The Martyr's cards activate differently depending on your current HP threshold. Most cards have a base effect and a conditional bonus, the lower your HP, the harder they hit.

Cards scale based on your current HP state: Healthy → Wounded → Fading → Moribund.

Spoilers below!

Defence:

• Abyssal Guard — If Fading: Gain 10 DEF for each round passed. Tenuous.

• Doom's Defense — If Moribund: Gain +10 DEF & 1 Spectral.

• Faith's Bastion — If Fading: Gain +15 DEF.

• Grim Resolve — If Fading: Gain +5 DEF.

• Resolute Defense — If Fading: Gain +10 DEF.

• Shield of Faith — If Wounded: +5 DEF.

Attack:

• Avenging Blow — If Healthy: Lose 10 HP. If you have less HP than the target, this card has 2× ATK.

• Dark Reckoning — If Fading: ATK ×2.

• Echo of Pain — ATK = HP lost last turn.

• Frenzied Assault — Gain 5 Bleed. If Fading: +15 ATK.

• Martyred Strike — If Wounded: +10 ATK.

• Painful Strike — If Healthy

  Lose 10 HP.

  If Moribund

  Deal +20 ATK.

• Revenge — If Wounded: +5 ATK for each HP lost last turn.

• Sacrificial Icon — Lose 10 HP. If Fading: −20 HP to all enemies.

• Spiteful Reckoning — If Fading: +15 ATK.

• Vigorous Strike — Gain 5 Bleed. If Fading: Gain +15 ATK & Draw 1.

Utility:

• Crimson Zeal — If Moribund: Deal 10 ATK & Gain 10 DEF this and next turn.

• Dark Renewal — Heal for 25% of missing HP. If Fading: Draw 2. Tenuous.

• Hope's Beacon — Heal 5 HP. If Fading: Heal an additional 10 HP.

• Resolute Resolve — Heal 10 HP. If Fading: +10 DEF.

Wishlist on Steam:

Hunters Hand

Go find out what the Crimson Bloom has been hiding.